“I am a sexual predator. I need help.” Abuse Excuse, or Cry for Help?

Back in 2000, Alan Dershowitz wrote a book called The Abuse Excuse. From the description at amazon.com:

According to renowned defense attorney and Harvard law professor Alan M. Dershowitz, “abuse excuses” are enabling people to get away with murder – literally. From the Menendez brothers to Lorena Bobbitt, more and more Americans accused of violent crimes are admitting to the charges, but arguing that they shouldn’t be held legally responsible. The reason: they’re victims – of an abusive parent, a violent spouse, a traumatic experience, ethnic hatred, society at large, or anything else – who struck back at a real or perceived oppressor. And they couldn’t help themselves, they say. In this provocative and important collection of essays, Dershowitz reviews a wide range of recent cases – including those of O. J. Simpson, Tonya Harding, and Woody Allen – and argues that the current vogue in victim defenses is antithetical to the ideals of our constitutional democracy. For Dershowitz, the foundations of American society are individual responsibility and the rule of law. And people who claim to be above the law – whatever the excuse – are no more than vigilantes.

I couldn’t help but think about that when I saw this story about the “suicide note” allegedly written in 2004 by Cleveland Kidnapper/dirt bag Ariel Castro, which contains the sentences “I am a sexual predator. I need help.” From the U.K.’s Daily Mail:

In the suicide note purportedly written by Cleveland kidnapping suspect Ariel Castro, he claims that he was abused as a child and raped by an uncle, it was revealed today.

According to a law enforcement source, the letter contained details about his whole life and the three abductions – detailing what led him to kidnap the three women off the street and hold them captive for ten years,

The FBI found the note when they were searching Castro’s house and said they were fairly certain from its contents that it was a suicide letter.

Of course, I’m not buying the “cry for help” baloney. Here’s what gives up the con. Also from the Daily Mail story:

One other excerpt revealed by Taylor even appears to blame his victims for their predicament, saying: ‘They are here against their will because they made a mistake of getting in a car with a total stranger.’

This character may have been abused by his uncle, and this abuse may have contributed to his turning into a contemptible criminal, but it certainly doesn’t excuse it, whether it happened or not. That’s a given. Less obvious is what may sound horrifically cynical to some of you; specifically, that Mr. Castro wrote this letter and left it in the house anticipating the day that police would arrive to find it, where it would be there to set up the abuse excuse. He wouldn’t be the first pathological narcissistic sleaze ball to try to play that card.

The other thing I thought of was that Eagles’ song, “Get Over It,” which contains the line, “I’d like to find your inner child and kick its little ass.”